8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”
12 So Manoah asked him, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy’s life and work?”
13 The angel of the Lord answered, “Your wife must do all that I have told her. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”
When Samson’s parents sought the Lord in humility and desire to seek His guidance. They knew he was special to the Lord and was to be raised to be a Nazirite. He was to be dedicated to the Lord from his womb.
Submission is not too popular in our society where it is all about our rights and our wants. Submission in the home to one another is archaic today. Wives are to be subject to their husbands; children are supposed to be submissive to their parents and obedient to them. Workers are to be submissive to their employers. -We see the problem abounding in our country where people are not submissive to authorities, or the law of the land. We do have a problem where people’s lives are in danger because those who are law enforcement cannot do their job and are not supportive by the courts when criminals are arrested.
Without submission we cannot know God. The step of faith is to submit to the Lordship and authority of Jesus. We are called to be followers of Christ.
Manoah and his wife were in the humble position of hearing the voice of the angel and were silent before God, to seek His presence and do what they should to properly raise up their son.
Saint Joan’, is a drama by George Bernard Shaw. It is the historical work during the time of the crusades. Joan of Arc was talking to the King of France about the voices of the Lord leading her to give the French troops to victory. The king responded, ”Oh your voices, why don’t the voices speak to me? I am the king, not you!”
She responded, “Oh but they do. As soon as you cross yourself you leave. If you remain silent before God then you too will hear the voices.”
Ignoring what God says includes coming with our daily lists of prayer requests and submitting to the Lord what you want for the day, and how God is to serve you. Instead, the attitude of submission comes with a plain sheet of paper and silently allow God to fill up our assignments.
Prov 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it” The responsibility to being submissive to God as parents is to realize there is a job that is not always easy to do. It takes discipline, love, and suffering.
To learn submission the Nazarite vow said no to drink and certain foods, to not cut his hair, as a sign to devotion to the Lord. It was to be sexually pure. It is to follow the Word of God.
